The September flooding across the Front Range left lives tangled in its wake and victims struggling to recover their belongings -- a photograph here, a cell phone there, a doll washed away in a torrent. For Denver-based artist Viviane Le Courtois, such objects and mementos, however damaged, represent the spirit of recovery.

Many of Le Courtois's works begin with a community-driven component -- items like junk mail or socks or tumbleweeds -- collected from friends and woven into installations. Now, inspired by Boulder's resilience in the face of devastating flooding, she's hoping to collect 100 small objects damaged in the rush of water, which will eventually wind up part of a boulder-shaped sculpture. Called Rescued Memories, the project was commissioned by the city of Boulder and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art as one of three planned temporary artist commemorations.

Here's Le Courtois's statement:

The project reflects on the material property losses that have occurred during the recent flood. It will transform individual losses into a collective process of recovery. Objects damaged during the flood will be collected and transformed into porcelain fossils before becoming part of the piece. From interactions and objects collected at a series of collecting events, I will create a boulder shaped sculpture and a book with photos and stories. The large sculpture goes with the city' s name, represents the destructive rock slides and reminds me of the enigmatic and ritualistic nature of the menhirs or standing stones found all over Brittany where I grew up.